Two Chinese developers, Jing Li and Ricky Wang Yu, who played integral roles in building Sora, the recently unveiled text-to-video generator by OpenAI, have received recognition in mainland China for their contributions. This acknowledgment highlights the growing interest in advanced generative artificial intelligence (AI) technology within the country, where services from the Microsoft-backed start-up are not officially available.
Sora, introduced on February 16, boasts the capability to produce minute-long videos while preserving visual quality and adhering to user prompts. It excels in generating intricate scenes with multiple characters, specific types of motion, and accurate details based on user requests.
Jing Li, a member of the 13-person Sora development team, joined OpenAI in October 2022, while Ricky Wang Yu has been with the company for approximately two months, as per their LinkedIn profiles. Jing received acclaim from his alma mater, Wuhan No 2 High School, for “shining on the international stage.” Wang, a graduate of NSFZ, affiliated with Nanjing Normal University, has drawn attention for his innovative contributions.
China’s business and technology communities have expressed enthusiasm for Sora, recognizing it as a significant advancement in AI applications. However, concerns persist regarding potential challenges posed by U.S. sanctions that could impact China’s ability to keep pace with such technological progress.
MacroPolo, a think tank of the Paulson Institute in Chicago, notes that China-educated talent contributes significantly to advancing next-generation technologies in the United States. Chinese researchers make up 27 percent of AI researchers in American institutions, constituting the second-largest geographical group after the U.S. at 31 percent.
Jing, a principal developer behind Dall-E 3, OpenAI’s powerful image-generation model, has a notable background, including being featured in Forbes magazine’s “30 Under 30” list in China and winning a gold medal in the 2010 International Physics Olympiad. Before joining OpenAI, he worked at Meta Platforms and co-founded Lightelligence.
Wang commenced his professional career at Meta and Instagram, having received his undergraduate education at the University of California, Berkeley.
Another potential Chinese developer involved in Sora’s development is Guo Yufei, part of the primary product team of Dall-E 3. However, there is limited information available about Guo.
Xie Saining, an assistant professor of computer science at New York University, denied involvement in Sora’s development but raised questions on social media about China’s readiness for the technology. He emphasized the importance of ensuring that the AI tool is not abused for profit or manipulation.
While Sora is not the first of its kind, with similar technologies demonstrated by Google, Meta, and Runway, its high-quality videos have astounded observers. OpenAI acknowledges current weaknesses, stating that the tool may struggle with accurately simulating complex scenes’ physics and understanding specific instances of cause and effect, such as a person taking a bite out of a cookie without leaving a mark.